Thursday, December 10, 2015

The British Academy Sir Aurel Stein Archive

These aerial photographs from 1938 and 1939 were taken as part of an
archaeological survey conducted by Sir Marc Aurel Stein in modern day
Syria, Iraq and Jordan. They were captured by or with the assistance of
the Royal Air Force, then conducting aerial reconnaissance in the
territories under British Mandate. These photographs are held by The
British Academy, and shown here with their kind permission. The
digitisation of these photographs was made possible by cooperation with
the EAMENA (Endangered Archaeology of the Middle East and North Africa)
Project (eamena.org/).

The
photographs are a fantastic record of sites that have changed
drastically over time, including the well known sites of Qasr Azraq,
Balad Sinjar and Hatra for example. Stein's particular interest in the
Roman Limes means that a large number of circumvallations are also
photographed, many of which have never been investigated further and are
now almost invisible or erased from the landscape.

The
photographs have been catalogued according to their noted date and The
British Academy reference number. Where known, the sites have been named
and georeferenced according to the site depicted. Where a site name
discrepancy is known, whether between the photograph information and
Stein's report, or with another source, alternatives have been given.
Where possible, the hand written notes on the obverse and reverse of the
photograph have been included in the image description. Should you know
anything further regarding any of the sites depicted, please feel free
to share your knowledge and leave a comment on the individual
photograph's page. In many cases the sites photographed do not have
known individual site names but are referenced according to the
identification provided by Stein - for example, as 'Castellum' or
'Post', but these are in no way definitive.

This particular
collection of photographs relate to Stein's research of the Roman
'Limes' and many were intended as illustrations of his 'Limes Report'.
Stein's 'Limes Report' was posthumously published from the original and
typescript manuscripts held at The Bodleian Library in 1985: Shelagh
Gregory & David Kennedy 1985 Sir Aurel Stein's 'Limes Report', BAR
International Series 272.

This collection is held at The British
Academy, britak.co.uk, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London, SW1Y 5AH.
All image requests and enquiries regarding the collection should be
directed to the archivist (library@britac.ac.uk). The collection also
includes notes and plans made by Stein which are not included here.

These images were scanned from the prints using an EPSON Perfection V700 Photo Scanner, April 2015.

The primary focus of the project is notice and comment on open access material relating to the ancient world, but I will also include other kinds of networked information as it comes available.

The ancient world is conceived here as it is at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University, my academic home at the time AWOL was launched. That is, from the Pillars of Hercules to the Pacific, from the beginnings of human habitation to the late antique / early Islamic period.

AWOL is the successor to Abzu, a guide to networked open access data relevant to the study and public presentation of the Ancient Near East and the Ancient Mediterranean world, founded at the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago in 1994. Together they represent the longest sustained effort to map the development of open digital scholarship in any discipline.